Church Not Church

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Christ Our Savior Catholic Church, California Catholic Daily
Shopping mall architecture.
A  new Catholic church will soon sprout from what was once one of Orange County’s last remaining parcels of undeveloped farmland.
Christ Our Savior Catholic Church and new parish buildings are expected to be dedicated in mid-2020 and will be located at Alton Avenue, Bear Street and MacArthur Boulevard in Santa Ana.
[...]
The parish’s new home will be modern, welcoming and inclusive, diocesan officials said. A committee of Christ Our Savior parishioners provided input on the design of the church, which is being designed by San Diego-based domusstudio architecture.
The church’s interior is designed so worshippers can see easily sign language interpreters and video monitors. California sycamore, pink trumpet and olive trees will line outdoor walkways and plazas. An iconic 85-foot cross will reach into the sky.
What do officials mean by the inclusion of the word 'inclusive'? Inclusion of ad orientem worship? of beautiful statuary? of a communion rail? It is difficult to imagine that a communion rail would be part of a "tech-park" aesthetic that dominates the external structure, nor could a rail be accommodated into the "thrust" sanctuary design depicted in the diagram below.

One can only imagine at this point what the interior of the proposed design will look like. Perhaps it will have a "living water" motif such as the one in the same firm's design of another "worship building" said to house Catholics.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel - domusstudio

The cross-form church design has mostly escaped or eluded modern architects. With the cross left out or obscured by meaningful but misapplied images, Catholics see a meandering path. In this day and age of heterodox theology applied to the arts, it is not difficult to interpret the above image as a distortion of the straight path (Mark 1:3; Isaiah 40:3) in the desert (of a banal culture), a distortion of the path who is Jesus Christ - the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). Could we believe, if we understand the image/design is a representation of the Christian message, that - while the bold crucifix is a clear theological statement of the price of our salvation - before Him we are up a creek without a paddle?

Oh - and the tabernacle?

A screen capture of an image included in the Staff Report of the Santa Ana Planning Commission.




Palette (and palate) Cleanser


Virtual Tour: click HERE

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